Basement or cellar floor



(No Model.)

o. A. SMITH. BASEMENT 0R GELLAR FLOOR.

No. 274,985. Patented Apr;` s, ma.

Wzes'ses.

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ZM @Q UNITEE STATES ozIAs A. SMITH, oE ATLANTA, eEoEGIA.

BASEMENT CR CELLR FLOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,985, dated April 3, 1883.

Application iiled September 4, l. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OZIAS A. SMITH, a citi? zen of the United States, residing; at Atlanta, in the county ot' Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Moisture and Vermin Proof Basement, or Cellar Floors; and l do hereby declare that the following is a l'ull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same. v

Heretofore (especially in southern sections) the flooring oi' basements or cellars was constructed by leveling @II the ground and then laying on it sleepers or floonbeams, on ,which the floor-planks are laid. Floors so constructed soon decay from the ravages ot' vermin and the action of the moisture, producing rapid decay and rendering the apartment so iioored damp and unhealthy and admitting of the passage of vermin into the house.

To carry my invention into eftect in a basement or cellar so to be iloored, l level oft' the earth, and, as shown in the accompanying drawing, I lay the sleepers or Hoor-beams A (which bei'ore laying I saturate with crude carbolic acid or creosote-oil, to prevent decay) on the earth B, securing them in position by means of stakes (l driven into the earth under and alon gside ofthe sleepers, prevent-ingr them from moving with any settlement ot' the earths surface, and then I lill in between and underneath the sleepers or beams with a mastic or slightly plastic concrete,'D, consisting of sand thoroughly intermixed with coal-tar and crude 55 carbolic acid or creosote-oil in the proportions of about torty gallons of tar and siii` gallons ot' crude acid to the cubic yard of sand. This concrete is applied when fresh mixed and rammed down solid until its top surface is level with the top of the sleepers, and from the absorption of the carbolic acid or creosote-oil by the sleepers and flooring, thereby increasing` the durability ot' the wood-Work', this mastic gradually becomes hard and firm. Then the floor is finished by nailing the planking to the sleepers in the usual manner, the whole operation rendering.;` the Hoor moisture and vermin proof and vastly more durable than if' constructed without the antiseptic coating and fill- Ing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A tlanked ooring for basements and cellars, the sleepers or beams of which are coated or saturated, or both, with crude carbolic acid or creosote-oil, and the spaces between iilled in with a mastic of coal-tar, creosote-oil, and sand or equivalent material, substantially as set forth, and for the purposes described.

OZIAS A. SMITH.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK L. KANE, C. H. WIGHT. 

